​Chance the Rapper Is Not Releasing a New Album This Week

Despite contrary reports, Chance says he isn't dropping a new one on us after all

Photo: Matt Forsythe

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Jul 17, 2018

Chance the Rapper's long-awaited follow-up to 2016's Coloring Book could be on the way this week.
 
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune published yesterday (July 16), Chance said that his next album will be out in a few days.

UPDATE (7/17, 12 p.m. EDT): Contrary to that report, Chance now says a new album actually is not coming out this week after all. See his tweet below. It's unclear how the record will be released. Coloring Book was released exclusively on Apple Music for a two-week period, before becoming available to stream for free on other platforms.
 
"I've never been against selling music," Chance told the Tribune. "Music has value. I put my music out there for free because I wanted people to see and notice it as a beacon for what I'm doing, in terms of how unorthodox I wanted my approach and my delivery of each piece of music to be. On the other side, it's not really difficult for me to make music and deliver it to the fans, because there are so many more platforms now, a bunch of streaming sites. The bigger concern for artists now is navigating the legal issues of owning your music, your publishing, your distribution. It has been difficult for me to release music with artists who work with the majors."
 
It's unclear which collaborators might appear on Chance's next album, but he also gave an update on a separate upcoming project with Kanye West.
 
He said they worked on a pair of songs together out in Wyoming recently, and that West would be coming to Chicago to continue work with him soon.
 
"We're up in the mountains around these wild animals — it's very different out there — and we got some music done, and then he asked me if he could do an album with me," Chance said. "I don't know of a timeline on it yet, the trajectory of it, but he's coming here to work on it some more. We've just started making it, but I don't want to manipulate the situation and impose any time frame, because that can hinder you."
 
In other exciting Chance the Rapper news, the 25-year-old recently got engaged to his girlfriend and mother of his child, Kirsten Corley.

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